In Brief: In the News…30 Years Ago

POLLUTANTS ON THE MOVE

Arctic sea ice found to be transporting contaminants

Growing concern in the early 1990s about Arctic pollution led scientists to speculate about the relative roles of the atmosphere and ocean in the transport of contaminants. At the time, sea ice was not believed to be a potential carrier. But scientists from the United States and Germany began a research project to explore how ice formation and drift could influence the distribution of heavy metals, radionuclides, organochlorines and other pollutants in the Arctic.

They published a study in The Science of the Total Environment in 1995 that found that drifting sea ice in the Arctic could carry contaminants from coastal areas across the pole and release them far from their source areas during melting. This process was enabling the contaminants to make their way into the marine food chain.

The team concluded that sea ice that formed in shallow regions of the Siberian sea could incorporate associated contaminants, and that Arctic sea ice also received atmospheric deposits from Arctic haze (air pollution). They also found elevated levels of certain heavy metals (such as lead, iron, copper and cadmium) and organochlorines (such as PCBs and DDTs) in the ice they sampled in the Siberian seas, north of Svalbard, as well as in Baffin Bay, in northern Canada.

In their report, the researchers wrote that some of this ice was transported more than a thousand kilometres to the Greenland and Barents seas, making sea ice a potentially significant transport mechanism for contaminants. On top of that, they found that pollutants released at the sea surface along the marginal ice zone could easily enter the marine food chain. For example, polar bears on Svalbard had levels of PCBs high enough to cause reproductive damage.

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TROUBLE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE

Expanding hole in the ozone layer above Arctic

The hole in the ozone layer emerged as a big concern in the early nineties as gases like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from spray cans and refrigerants broke down ozone molecules in the upper atmosphere. Scientists began to warn that this depletion of atmospheric ozone would result in increased rates of skin cancer, cataracts and impaired immune systems for humans along with disruptions in agriculture worldwide.

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RADIOACTIVITY AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

The lasting legacy of the Soviet atomic programme

In the early nineties, Russian scientists were sounding the alarm about the impact of the Soviet Union’s atomic programme on northern Russia. In April 1992, they warned that thousands of seals in the region were ill with blood cancers.

During the Soviet period, spent reactors from nuclear submarines and icebreakers were often dumped in the White and Barents seas. Novaya Zemlya, a large Arctic island in northern Russia, was also a nuclear weapons testing site. (All of its residents had been cleared out in the 1950s.) This led to high levels of radioactivity in the area, both on land and in the water.

When Russian scientists found that thousands of harp seals were dying of cancer, they pointed the finger directly at the radioactivity caused by the Soviet nuclear testing and dumping. They first became aware of the problem after more than a million dead starfish washed up along the White Sea coast. After that, they began taking blood and tissue samples from the seals.

“In the last decades, monstrous experiments connected with numerous nuclear weapons tests were performed on Novaya Zemlya,” wrote Yuri K. Timoshenko, director of the marine mammal laboratory at the Polar Scientific Research Institute in Novaya Zemlya in Pravda of the North.

“The Barents Sea and the coast of Novaya Zemlya were turned into a dump for solid and liquid radioactive waste. A catastrophic situation has been created. A real threat has emerged, not only to sea mammals but everything in the ocean. The ecological and genetic consequences are unpredictable.”

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HISTORIC AGREEMENT

The Convention on Biological Diversity is born

On June 5, 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity—an international treaty hosted by the United Nations Environmental Development Programme (UNEP)—was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The convention aimed to address threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services—including threats from climate change—through scientific assessments, incentives, technology transfer and the active involvement of all stakeholders, from Indigenous and local communities to youth, non-governmental organizations, women and the business community.

By a year later, the treaty had already been signed by 168 parties. It ultimately entered into force in December 1993 with 193 countries participating. The only UN member states that did not sign were Andorra, South Sudan, the United States and Vatican City.

Today, the convention covers all levels of biodiversity, from ecosystems to species and genetic resources. It also includes all domains that could be related in any way to biodiversity and its role in development, from science, politics and education to agriculture, business, culture and more.

The convention’s history dates back to 1988, when UNEP convened the first Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Biological Diversity in Geneva, Switzerland to explore the need for an international convention on biological diversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity still meets every two years to review progress, set priorities and create work plans to support a sustainable future.